The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
U.S. Patents
Pat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee8,024,927B12011 Sep. 27Azizi8,456,027B12013 Jun. 4Seehorn8,796,870B22014 Aug. 5Cheung8,910,475B22014 Dec. 16Chiu8,089,167B22012 Jan. 3Alvite4,324,099N/A1982 Apr. 13Palomer4,674,281N/A1987 Jun. 23Kim6,769,253B12004 Aug. 3Scharfenberg4,718,232N/A1998 Jan. 12WillmouthU.S. Patent Application Publications
Publication No.Kind CodePubl. DateApplicant20150033717A12015 Feb. 5Hsu20080289324A12008 Nov. 27Marion, Woloshyn20060064975A12006 Mar. 30Takeuchi20060267346A12006 Nov. 3Chen
Energy is in high demand and the materials such as fossil fuels burnt in power plants and radioactive fuels used in nuclear power plants are in short supply. I believe most people are aware of the severe problems that accompany both of these methods of producing electricity and the facts of which could fill a thousand pages, so I will keep this brief. Pollutants in the air from fossil fuels end up in our lungs, our water, and our food. Radioactive fuels pose a radioactive waste disposal problem and extreme health risk. I believe the people of this planet deserve methods of producing clean and cheap electricity. It seems that small strides to achieve this goal occasionally are brought into the limelight. However small a step, a step forward is a step forward and is desperately needed right now to help alleviate the suffering caused by pollution generated by the production of electricity from dirty means.
I like the idea of solar energy capture for a clean energy source. Their major drawbacks are that they produce electricity while receiving sunlight from within limited degrees of angle, and their efficiency wanes quickly when outside of this angle of direct sunlight. Cloud cover doesn't help any either, not to mention what night time does to the poor solar panels electric output. I would have to say that solar energy capturing technology would be the tortoise in this race to produce clean energy. The solar cell was invented in the late 1800's, and achieved 14% efficiency in 1960. The solar cells being produced now are around 23% efficient. On the brighter side, a new means of capturing solar energy has just been discovered and is about 35% efficient. At this rate the solar cell may achieve 50% efficiency within the next fifty years, we can always hope, right?
Wind turbines are another clean energy source. Their major drawbacks are they don't generate electricity when the wind doesn't blow, very limited site locations that are appropriate due to factors such as wind consistency and proximity to a city or town that could utilize the electricity produced, and some people see them as being unsightly monsters dotting the landscape.
Oscillating water column devices are now producing small amounts of electricity and are in limited use around ocean and sea shores. Their major drawback is they are confined to use at the shore line and within a reasonable distance from the shore line.
The use of water to provide kinetic energy to produce motion to do work has been around for many years. Water wheels have been utilized to power stones to grind grains, and to pump water to higher elevations for irrigation and other purposes for over two thousand years. The world's first use of a hydroelectric power plant was almost one hundred and thirty nine years ago. Today, hydroelectric dams produce clean cheap electricity wherever they can be built. However, ecologically good locations to build dams are in short supply. They also have some drawbacks, such as hindrance to fish and other aquatic species, not only to better feeding grounds but to critical spawn sites. They do provide nice recreational areas for us humans though.
The above mentioned clean energy technologies all have one thing in common, they capture, harness, utilize, or otherwise use, a provided by nature, natural phenomenon. The wind, the sun, the water's waves created by the wind, and the gravitational force and buoyancy force provided through water.
New technologies that utilize gravity and buoyancy to produce kinetic energy are emerging and it is up to all of us to do our best to bring clean and inexpensive electrical power plants to the forefront of today's society. The following are examples of prior art that have tried to do just that. I applaud their efforts and their ingenuity.
I present this prior art example first because it is the only one on my list that I feel needs some clarification regarding certain features. I am only pointing out some of the features of U.S. Pat. No. 8,024,927 B1 (Azizi, issued 2011 Sep. 27) in the name of clarity. U.S. Pat. No. 8,024,927 B1 (Azizi, issued 2011 Sep. 27) teaches the use of a float adapted with valves at its top, side, and bottom for the purpose of accepting and discharging (pressurized or compressed) gas and fluid so as to alternate the floats buoyancy between negative and positive so as to make the float rise and fall within a tubular vessel filled with fluid. The float is disposed within the vessel so as to force the fluid above the float upward and through a turbine to produce electricity. The accepting and discharging of (pressurized or compressed) gas and fluid into and out of a chamber within the float is accomplished through the arrangement of a valve to valve coupling at the beginning and end of the float's rise and fall cycle. I pulled the following from the specifications verbatim, (“the float member begins to ascend inside the tube causing, in turn, the water inside the tubular member ahead of the rising float to become increasingly more pressurized due directly to the effect of the float's buoyancy.”)(“when gas is introduced into one float, that float begins to rise within its tube, steadily increasing the water pressure ahead of it in the tube as the float ascends with the water reaching near or at its maximum pressure as it is forced through the tapered portion or nozzle formed at the top end of the tube.”)(“water flowing in advance of ascending float member continues to flow with a steady build up of pressure.”) I refer to the above quotes usage in particular of the phrases “increasingly more pressurized” “steadily increasing the water pressure” “steady build up of pressure” I feel these statements need to be clarified. The apparatus uses a float member which is of a fixed volume and therefore can only displace a fixed volume of fluid, the fixed volume of fluid being the driving gravity force which creates the buoyancy force which exerts the pressure on the fluid above it. Therefore the pressure exerted on the water above the float by the float rising will be the same during the beginning of the float's ascent as it will be at the end of its ascent. That was point one. The other point is within the claims. Nowhere within the claims do I read how or from where the buoyancy force derives its gravity force. It is clear from the specifications that the apparatus has to sit mostly submerged within a body of water such as a lake, ocean, or reservoir and that these bodies of water that the apparatus would be required to sit within would supply the gravitation force required to make the apparatus function. I call attention to this because I'm under the belief that the claims must state a functional system. Without the body of water that his apparatus needs to be mostly submerged in to supply the gravity force, his apparatus will not function. Again, I have only pointed out the above to help clear up some confusing statements about features of his apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,099 (Palomer, issued 1982 Apr. 13) teaches the use of water from a higher level being allowed to flow into chambers containing floats that are mechanically linked to a crankshaft and through the use of a valve system the water lifts and lowers the floats to create rotational motion upon the crankshaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,281 (Kim, issued 1987 Jun. 23) teaches an apparatus for generating power by using two cylinders and a float member within each cylinder and rotating lever arms attached to the float members at one end to a crank connected to a shaft at the other end whereby the introduction of fluid and air into the first cylinder and its float member, respectively, and simultaneously, the discharge of fluid and air from the second cylinder and its float member, respectively, cause the float members to rise and fall accordingly and, in turn, the lever arms to move up and down and the crank to rotate about the crankshaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,456,027 B1 (Seehorn, issued 2013 Jun. 4) and U.S. Pat. No. 8,796,870 B2 (Cheung, issued 2014 Aug. 5) both teach the use of float members which are adapted to accept and discharge air and water to change their perspective buoyancy between being negative and positive buoyant, thusly being disposed within a chamber or chambers filled with fluid two floats being linked together by cables or chains work in opposing up and down motion and through their linkage apply force and motion to gears and shafts to turn electrical generating means.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,253 B1 (Scharfenberg, issued 2004 Aug. 3) teaches a turbine power plant using buoyant force in the form of air propelled against a series of vanes coupled to a shaft connected to a turbine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,232 (Willmouth, issued 1998 Jan. 12) teaches the use of buoyancy and gravity in combination within an apparatus comprising a long chain having a series of attached float members extending around a sprocket with the float members immersed in liquid as they rise driven by the force of buoyancy and passing through air space as they fall pulled down by the force of gravity.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,910,475 B2 (Chiu, issued 2014 Dec. 16) teaches the use of a float in the form of a bladder within a cage like structure which is mechanically linked by chain to an overhead gear and shaft, the float bladder being adapted to accept and discharge air and being disposed within a tubular member filled with water is alternately made to be positively and negatively buoyant to move upward and downward within the tubular member and thereby forcing the linked chain to drive the gear and shaft to produce rotary motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,089,167 B2 (Alvite, issued 2012 Jan. 3) teaches the use of a weighted air bag which is adapted to accept and discharge air and is mechanically linked to gears and shafts so as to rise within a fluid while inflated and to fall by the weight while deflated thereby creating motion through the mechanical linkage to the gears and shaft.
U.S. patent application number 2006/0064975 A1 (Takeuchi, published 2006 Mar. 30) teaches the introduction of continuous bubbled gas moving through a liquid to force a conveyor fitted with numerous bucket-like devices to rotate which in turn causes a power generating turbine to rotate.
U.S. patent application number 2006/0267346 A1 (Chen, published 2006 Nov. 3) teaches the use of a water tower that accumulates water at the top through the application of buoyancy and the use of transmission rods to force the water up, whereupon guided by the principles of gravity water cascades down a pipe to drive a turbine to produce electricity.
U.S. patent application number 2008/0289324 A1 (Marion, Woloshyn, published 2008 Nov. 27) teaches the use of a single buoy with an opening at the bottom to receive air and so as to displace the water within when so charged with air at its lower position within a water filled vessel, the buoy being equipped with a mechanical valve at its top which is depressed to release the air from within when it reaches its uppermost position, the buoy also being mechanically linked to chain and gears to create rotary motion to generate electricity as it rises and falls.
U.S. patent application number 2015/0033717 A1 (Hsu, published 2015 Feb. 5) teaches the use of water drawing partitions connected to a conveyer-like apparatus disposed within a water drawing pipe and through the injection of air at the bottom thereof the air collects under the water drawing partitions and forces the partition and the water above the partition upward and into a collecting apparatus for conversion to electricity.
Again, I can only admire the achievements of those who have come before and strived to better mankind's situation on this beautiful blue planet of which we all share.